


Departure to India.

by TerresDeBrume



Series: AUs without a cause [6]
Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fatherhood, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-25
Updated: 2012-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:29:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things Loki didn't tell him about being a father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Departure to India.

**Author's Note:**

> Written in celebration for the Hemsworth/Pataky baby!  
> Happy parenthood to the both of them :)  
> Also, this takes place in the same verse as _Welcome To My Life_

One thing Loki didn’t tell about being a father is how different it is from babysitting your little brother.

Thor remembers being in Loki’s living room, watching Balder play in his park and feel his cheeks ache with tenderness and affection. He remembers the feeling of adorableness surrounding his interaction with his baby brother and the way his silliest faces seemed so amusing, so touching.

 

He doesn’t remember feeling quite like that, like his heart was going to burst out of his chest any moment and engulf the whole neighborhood, the whole town in a wave of love and protectiveness he has never felt. He doesn’t remember feeling so elated and exhausted and terrified when he looked at Balder.

Now though, he looks at his newborn daughter, so tiny he can lift her in his cupped palms, and he wonders what it is that makes her so different, so much more than any other baby. Is it the faded blue pajama he remembers seeing on old photographs of Loki? Is it the smell of her, warm and milky like he’s never had any occasion to smell on Balder? Or is it, maybe, that he can already see that India has her mother’s lips, her father’s nose? Maybe what makes her really special is that she is his, not only in blood but in bond as well.

 

He watches her sleeping on her mother’s chest, and it is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. It doesn’t matter that Jane has gigantic bags under her eyes and a tired face, it doesn’t matter that India kind of reminds him of a baby turtle coming out of its egg, it doesn’t matter that the room is blank and the painting above the bed is extremely creepy. None of this really matters next to the fact that he is a father now, and he wants to take his daughter in his arms and never let go.

He wonders if wanting to kiss her nose, her hands, her feet, her belly makes him a pedophile. He wonders if she likes him already, or if it’s just coincidence that has her turning her head in his direction when she is awake to hear him talk.

 

He wonders if he is going to be half as good a father as Loki is or if he is going to screw her up as badly as Loki was.

 

“Of course you’ll screw her up,” Loki says when Thor tells him about his doubts later on. “We all do. The hard part is to screw up in such a way that she can turn it into an advantage.” He smiles, waving at Sleipnir, who just reached the top of a jungle gym. “It’s not a race, Thor. It’s a journey, and what really counts isn’t where you’re going, but how you get there.”

“When did you become so wise?” Thor chuckles, and he ruffles his brother’s hair.

 

Loki protests and, for a moment, they are teenagers again, not the twenty-three and twenty-six years old they really are. Strangely enough, Thor finds it easier to be a child with his brother now that they are both adults. Go figure.

 

“Like I said,” Loki says once they are done scuffling, “raising a child is a journey. And if you open your eyes, there are wonderful things to pick up along the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> lease leave feedback here or at [Tumblr](http://terresdebrumestories.tumblr.com/ask), thank you <3


End file.
